The Domino Effect
by Dallandra LeFay
Summary: Hi, my name is Cassandra O'Connor. Cassie to you and me, but my friends call me Domino.  My life at Hogwarts has been pretty normal, considering my past and I thought this year would be no different, well, apart from OWLs. Boy, was I wrong.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: If you read this and think you've read it before - namely on Harry Potter Fan Fiction (dot) com - that's because I have posted it on there. My user name is the same on both sites. I hope you enjoy the story. Please R+R.**

Chapter 1

The scenery flashed by the window as the train speed along the track. It was great to finally be going back to school. Don't get me wrong, I love seeing my family but it's nice to get away from them as well; they're a little protective over me, being the only female in the house.

"So, how was you're summer?" Lily asked, sitting down in the seat opposite me.

I turned from the window to see the rest of my friends, placing their luggage in the racks and making themselves comfortable. Emily turned in her seat so that her legs draped across Lily's, before telling us how Paris was lovely this time of year: turns out Emily's mum had surprised her with the trip.

"…and then we went up the Eiffel Tower; the view was spectacular."

"Cool, I spent my summer with family. We went camping, it was really quite fun." Said Lily

"Wish I could have gone camping. It would've been better than the summer I had to endure." Said Penny, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout.

"Oh, put that damn lip away, Pen!" Lily huffed.

"Buuut…"

"No, Penny Waterman! Don't you dare tell me how much your summer sucked, because I know for a fact that it didn't!"

Penny grinned wickedly, "I missed you Lils!"

I looked at Emily and rolled my eyes. This happens every time we come back from our holidays, it's almost like a tradition.

"So what did you do, Domino?" Emily asked in her usual dreamy voice.

"Well, apart from spending the first 2 weeks with Penny before she went to ITALY WITH HER PARENTS," Penny flinched when I emphasised the last bit. "I spent my summer looking at Wedding designs."

"Wedding designs?"

"Dylan proposed to Sophie!"

I was bombarded with congratulations and questions. They made it sound like there was about 10 different people in the carriage, which considering there was only the three of them, was quite impressive.

"Whoa, slow it down, I can hardly hear myself think!" I called out, waving my hands around to try and shut them up.

"Which one is Dylan, again?" Lily asked, trying to work it out.

"Dylan is my oldest brother. Jacob is the second oldest and Sam is the second youngest."

"Leaving you as the youngest of them all!" Penny said grinning

"Yes, thank you Pen." I said folding my arms across my chest. I hated being the youngest.

Penny suddenly punched my arm and screamed, "Why the hell do I not know this already! I should have been told, I am your BEST FRIEND!"

"Ow," I said, rubbing my arm. "I tried to tell you, but you'd already left for Italy and all our owls were being used to send out invitations."

"Don't you have to plan everything before sending invites?" Emily asked confused.

"Normally, yeah, but Sophie has known for ages that Dylan was going to propose so she planned everything in advance."

"How did she-"

"He cocked it up a couple of months ago. He never actually asked her to marry him but we all put two and two together and worked it out. Sophie has been planning everything since then."

"Don't think you're getting off that easily!" Penny screeched.

"What are you going on about now?" I asked jumping onto Lily's lap, in order to escape Penny's flailing arms.

"No one in their right mind would go anywhere near your evil owl, so you could still have contacted me!"

Lily pushed me off her lap and I hit the floor with a thump. "Jacob risked it and used him to send a batch of invites, and he has the scars to prove it." I said as I got up off the floor of the carriage and sat back down next to Penny. "And anyway, Thorn isn't evil!"

"Yes he is!" Penny, Emily and Lily shouted simultaneously.

"He won't go near anyone but you, without trying to maul them! In fact he's not evil. He's Psychotic!"

She has a point, I suppose. Thorn is a little…picky...maybe that's why I got him for free.

"Well, I was going to send you a letter using that crappy owl that you sent, but I had to give him a week to recover. When I went to give him my letter Sam came running in and shanghaied it into delivering more invites!"

"Oh, you mean Buck. Buck is Gran's owl; she's had him for years."

"Yeah, I could tell."

We spent most of the train ride discussing the up and coming wedding, when the door of our compartment opened, revealing the Marauders.

"Lily?"

"What, Potter?"

"Will you go out with me?"

"No! Now get out before I hex your face off!" Lily said, her temper beginning to rise.

"Aww, you wouldn't hex my face off. Would you?"

"Try me." Lily said, shoving her wand in his face.

"And it begins." Emily said, shaking her head.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The feast was lovely, as usual, and after many helpings of roast chicken, yorkshire puddings, roast potatoes, carrots and treacle tart, I found myself sat in the comfy chairs in front of the fire in the Gryffindor common room with Penny, Lily and Emily.

The Marauders were huddled around one of the tables in the far corner of the room, probably plotting their next prank, when Potter called out. "LILY!"

"NO!" Lily called back, cutting him off from asking his usual question.

Thankfully the 1st of September fell on a Friday this year, which means tomorrow is a Saturday. I think I might go to Hogsmeade and get some sweets; I'm low on sugar.

Before Potter could ask Lily to go out with him again, the four of us got up and headed to our dorm. The other girls in the common room glared at Lily when she got up; honestly, I really don't see the appeal in the Marauders. They're womanisers, well Potter and Black are. I for one am not a fan girl.

I crawled into my bed and sunk into a blissful sleep.

~~8~~

"WAKE UP!"

I jumped about ten feet in the air and landed with a thud on the cold wooden floor; my heart hammering loudly in my chest.

"What. The. Hell." I said, my face buried in the floorboards.

"It's Saturday, Domino. You can't sleep the day away on a Saturday."

"I usually do." I grumbled as I pushed myself up. "What's with the rude awakening, Penny?"

"It's Saturday." She said as she walked out of the room, "Get up."

I trudged to the bathroom to get a shower and got changed into my favourite pair of black jeans, white t-shirt and my well worn, knee-high boots. I brushed my fingers through my shoulder length black hair, spiking it up into its normal disarray. "Ah, it'll do," I said to my reflection and I headed down to the common room.

I found Penny sat with Lily and Emily.

"So, what was it that was so important that you just had to give me a heart attack this morning?"

"Oh, nothing. I just thought it would be funny." Penny chuckled.

"...WHAT!" I felt my eyes quiver as anger rushed through me.

Penny launched herself from the chair she was sitting in, as I went to pounce at her. It's a good thing she's quick or I'll strangled her by now. Penny's cackling laughter resonated around the common room as I chased her around people, under furniture and over furniture until Lily had had enough and stuck her foot out as I came by. I tripped up and fell flat on my face for the second time that morning. Penny's laughter could still be heard in the distance as she ran through the portrait hole and presumably down to the Great Hall.

"How long have you known Penny, Dom?" Lily asked pulling me up.

"Too long," I huffed as I got to my feet. I looked around the room to see up-ended tables, scattered books and terrified looking first years. Damn. "13 years. I've known Penny for 13 years." I sighed.

"And how many times has she done something like this?" Lily said, looking at me with scrutiny.

"So many times I should expect it."

"Go upstairs," Lily said quietly. "We'll meet you in the Great Hall."

"Why do I need to go upstairs?" I asked, finally having the courage to look her in the eyes.

"Because," she whispered. "You're eyes are yellow."

I gasped and ran for the dorms. I felt them quiver a minute ago but I thought they'd have changed back by now; clearly I wasn't calm enough.

I stood in front of the bathroom mirror in our dorm and stared at my reflection. My typically blue eyes were indeed yellow; something that happens when I get angry, a side effect from the accident years ago. I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, when I opened my eyes they were back to normal. "I'm gonna murder that girl, one of these days," I said as I made my way to the Great Hall.

I was welcomed with the smell of bacon as I neared the Great Hall. I made may way through the groups of students that were gathered in the entrance hall and went over to the Gryffindor table.

"Dominooooo!"

Penny jumped up and threw her arms around my neck.

"What?"

"You feeling better?" she asked letting me go.

"Yes, no thanks to you."

Penny sniggered as we sat down and I piled my plate with bacon, sausages and beans. I was happily munching on a piece of particularly crispy bacon when I watched as an arm reached over and stole one of my sausages.

"Mmm, thanks for the sausage, O'Connor." Black said through a mouthful of my food.

I turned to glare at him and his friends, who had now decided that my plate was a free buffet and were helping themselves. No one steals my food!

As Black went to take another bite of the sausage, I reached up and squidged his face; making him look like he was wearing a helmet that was too tight. Emily spat her drink out, laughing and drenched a helpless first year.

"He looks like a fat fish!" she bellowed.

I let go of Black's face and left the Great Hall.

"Great, where am I going to go now?" I muttered to myself as I headed out into the school grounds. I wandered over towards the lake and pulled myself up into my favourite tree. Ever since first year I've always sat in this tree; it's my haven, my safe place. I made myself comfortable and pulled a book out of my bag; might as well get some studying in whilst I'm here, it is OWL year after all.

I glanced up from my book and saw Lily, Emily and Penny waling towards Hogsmeade. Penny looked up at my tree and gave a small wave; although she couldn't see me, she knew I was here. She knows this is where I go to be alone. I went back to my reading, thinking that I may go into Hogsmeade later and meet them for a Butterbeer.

I had been sat in my tree for a while and I'd lost track of the time. I didn't know there were people sitting under my tree until I heard someone bellow, "LILY!"

The shout startled me, I jumped about 5 feet in the air, fell out of the tree and landed in the lap of none other than Sirius Black.

"If you wanted to get closer, all you had to do was ask?" he said winking at me.

I untangled myself from Black and got to my feet.

"Were you...in the tree?" Lupin asked me, glancing up into the branches above us.

Ignoring him, I turned to Potter and whacked him on the arm with the book in my hand, "What the hell do you think you're doing, shouting like that? You're going to give someone a heart attack!"

"Ow! I didn't even know you were there!"

"You should always check a tree before you sit beneath it." I said, matter-of-factly. I made the mistake once of not checking a tree before sitting under it...let's just say my brothers were grounded for a month.

As I stormed off, trying to keep my dignity despite the many twigs in my hair, I heard Black tell Potter to, "Do that again, I might get lucky next time."

While the rest of the Marauders were laughing themselves silly, Potter drew in a large breath just as my book collided with his face. I left them laughing hysterically, my book forgotten on the ground with them and my head held high.

As I walked into the common room I let out a cry of anguish, as I tried to de-twig my hair.

"What's got your knickers in a twist?" Emily said, looking up from her conversation with Lily and Penny.

"The Marauders!" I snarled.

"What did they do this time?" Lily asked, "Wait, does it have anything to do with Potter shouting me a minute ago?"

"Yes," I sighed, giving up on my hair.

Before I could go into detail about what had happened, the four guys in question entered the room.

"I thing dis belons to you," Potter said, holding out my book.

"What happened to your face?" Penny gasped.

Potter's face was indeed shocking; his eyes were turning black, his nose was bruised and there was an awful lot of blood.

"She," Potter said, pointing at me. "broked by dose!"

My friends started laughing and Potter looked upset, especially at Lily's outburst of giggles.

"I didn't mean too. I missed." I said simply.

"Missed! Missed! You didn'd blood miss!" he said annoyed.

"Yes I did, I was aiming for Black."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next couple of months went by fairly quickly and Christmas had come and past, all without much hassle. The teachers were pilling us with homework and we spent most of our time studying for our OWLs. The four of us got closer to the Marauders and we all became really good friends; even Lily and James. Odd, I know, but I'm beginning to think Lily's starting to fall for him.

"Argh! Why does this have to be so hard?"

Sirius threw his book across the room, face planted the table and let out a small groan.

"Well, if you actually paid attention in class instead of messing around, you wouldn't be finding it difficult." Lily said, her nose buried in her Charms book and her hand furiously writing notes.

The eight of us: Me, Lily, Emily, Penny and the Marauders, were currently sitting around a large table which was piled high with books of all subjects, quills, ink and parchment. The common room was fairly empty, what with it being a Saturday, so Lily had got us all to have a study session. The boys weren't particularly impressed with this idea, but seeing as Lily had said that she would go to Hogsmeade with James next weekend if they studied for at least 2 hours, they didn't have a choice.

"I give up!" Sirius moaned, sitting up. I giggled at the quill that was stuck to his forehead. He looked up and blew upwards, causing the feather to flicker in the wind but it refused to move. I let out a loud burst of laughter as Remus reached over and yanked it off his head.

"Ow! Moony, that hurt."

"Well at least it isn't still stuck on your forehead." Remus said as he casually flicked the quill onto the table.

Lily looked up from her book, a look of annoyance on her face. Sirius let out a yelp when James elbowed him in the ribs and quickly picked up the nearest book, Lily didn't look impressed but she gave a small nod before returning to her notes.

The next 2 hours went by pretty slowly; Sirius had another bout of impatience but shut up when James slapped him round the head with a Potions book.

"I think we all deserve a break now." Lily said, shuffling her notes into a neat pile. Before she could change her mind, all of us scattered, sending pieces of parchment everywhere.

By the time we got outside, Sirius' usual joyous facade had returned and he was plotting a way of pranking the Slytherins.

"Using just a fork, some water, 20 frogs and a small jar of mayonnaise -"

"Any plan that begins with 'Using just a fork' is never going to work." Penny said as she paddled her feet in the lake.

"You'd be surprised," Said Remus from the shore.

I watched Penny blush slightly at Remus' comment and made a mental note to ask her about it later. I turned around to see Sirius poking a tree with his wand.

"What are you doing?"

"Wasn't it you who said, 'Always check a tree before sitting under it'?" Sirius said, still poking the tree.

"Yes, but why-"

"Because I want to sit under the tree. Come on Dom, keep up." Sirius put his wand in his pocket and put his hands on his hip. "Yup, I deem this tree safe to sit under!"

"Idiot," I muttered as I sat down.

_"He's cute,"_

"Shh!" I said to the voice in my head.

"What? I didn't say anything." Sirius said looking at me confused.

"Oh, um, nothing!" I muttered quickly, trying to change the subject before he noticed me talking to myself. "Look, a Slytherin!"

It worked; Sirius had taken the bait and was now trying to find the Slytherin in question.

_"He's still cute, Cassie."_ The voice in my head said.

"Go away!"

_"I can't go away, Cassie, I'm part of you."_

"Well, then just...he's not cute."

_"Yes he his and I know you think he is."_

I sighed, "Okay, so maybe he is cute, but that doesn't mean anything."

_"Haha! I knew it!"_ The voice said triumphantly.

"Domino? You okay?"

I looked up and saw Penny making her way over to me.

"Yeah, just having a 'deep and meaningful' with the other half."

Penny chuckled, "How is Faolan, anyway?"

"She's good, annoying and nosey, but good. I'm going for a run tonight."

"Ha, so nothing's changed then." She said, hitting my arm playfully. "Be careful tonight, don't get sidetracked."

"I won't." I said.

"I wasn't talking to you," She whispered as the others came over and joined us.

James looked a little dazed as he sat down and Sirius chuckled. "Lily agreed to go to Hogsmeade with him this weekend."

"We know that, that's why we did so much revision today." Emily said, picking up a daisy from the base of the tree.

"Yeah, but he wasn't expecting her to actually mean it." Remus laughed.

As night fell over the grounds and everyone was tucked up in their beds, I was quietly making my way down to the school grounds. There were a couple of close calls with Filch, but I made it to the edge of the Forbidden Forest without being caught.

I sat down on the grass, hidden from view if anyone should walk by and waited for the moon to show itself. As I waited in silence, I thought I heard someone behind me but when I looked I didn't see anyone. I must have been mistaken.

The moon came and I basked in its glow for a couple of minutes before I felt Faolan's eagerness to be free.

_"Cassie..."_

I launched myself forward and out of my hiding place. In mid-dive I let go, letting my body transform. I landed gracefully on my paws and, without breaking stride, started running. The wind caressed my face and the grass felt soft under my paws. I run in the grounds frequently, but when the moon was full, it's different; the full moon allows me and Faolan to run as one.

I stopped alongside the lake and peered into the shallows; my reflection staring back at me. I never thought of myself pretty or beautiful, even in my animagus form, but with the silvery moon shining down on me, it made my fur sparkle. I was white, although not overly so; all four of my paws were a dark grey, fading up my legs. I had the same patterning across my muzzle; dark grey at the nose, fading upwards towards my eyes. I suppose it's my colouring that gave me my nickname: Domino.

I began loping through the tall grass, letting my paws splash in the cool waters when I heard it; a howl. I froze, it wasn't a normal wolf. I turned in the direction of the howl and sniffed the air. Werewolf. I ran towards it.

As I came over the crest of the hill, I saw the werewolf in question and with it I saw a large black dog, a stag and I smelt, rather than saw, a rat.

_"Can you smell that, Cassie?"_

I shook my head at Faolan's question.

_"Animagus. They're Animagi."_

I sniffed the air and caught the tell-tale scent of an Animagus. I watched as the werewolf brought down its paws and took a swipe at the dog. The dog tried to dodge the attack but wasn't quick enough and I heard the dog yelp loudly as the werewolf's paw came in contact with its side. The stag tried to help but got side-swiped by the werewolf. It was too strong for the stag to do anything.

_"Cassie, we need to do something. If we don't that dog is going to die!"_

I didn't need Faolan to tell me twice and I broke into a sprint. I threw myself at the werewolf, just as it was about to deliver a death blow to the dog and brought my claws down upon the werewolf's face. We circled each other, taking a couple of swipes and bites before the werewolf took off. It ran towards the Whomping Willow and disappeared. I went to go after it when the dog, stag and rat appeared in front of me, block my path. I gave a small growl and stepped forward but the dog countered me by doing the same; whoever they are they don't want me following that werewolf.

_"Let's just leave, Cassie. They clearly don't want us interfering."_

I gave a snort, turned and ran in the opposite direction.

Sirius' POV

Things weren't going well. We all misjudged the moon tonight and Remus transformed before we could get to the Shrieking Shack. It didn't help matters that Remus wasn't able to get any Wolfsbane potion.

Remus howled and tried to take a swipe at James.

"Sirius!"

I jumped forward and transformed, my paws making contact with Remus' shoulders. I tried to distract him while James and Peter transformed. Remus brought his claws down, I tried to dodge it but he caught me and I yelped in pain. My vision went blurry and I saw Remus turn of James, I tried to get up but couldn't. Remus turned back to me and went to attack again when something rammed into the side of him. Whatever it was, it gave me a chance to gather myself. When my vision came back I saw a white wolf circling Remus; both took swipes at each other before Remus took off for the Whomping Willow. The white wolf went to go after him but me, James and Peter blocked its path. It growled at us in warning and tried to push past but I stepped forward, giving a small growl myself. The wolf snorted and ran away, leaving us bemused by what had just happened.

"What the hell?" James said, transforming back from his Stag appearance.

"That was an Animagus," Peter said. Me and James looked at him and he shrugged, "If it was a normal wolf it would have attacked us, not Remus."

The guy had a point.

"I wonder who it is," I said to no-one in particular.

Cassie's POV

After I un-tensed my muscles from the fight, I headed back up to the castle. I made my way back to the common room and up to the dormitory. Collapsing on my bed, the last thoughts that drifted through my mind were that of the evening.

"I wonder who they are," I murmured to myself as I drifted off to sleep.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Oh my God, how could Dumbledore let a werewolf into Hogwarts?" Penny gasped, when I told her what had happened last night.

"Penny!" I said, shocked.

"What? Werewolves are dangerous, someone could get hurt. Or worse, killed!"

"I'm a werewolf, Penny!" I hissed. "Do you think I should leave Hogwarts?"

"Oh, you know what I mean, Domino. You're not a proper werewolf."

"No, I don't know what you mean. I may not transform every full moon like a werewolf, but I am half werewolf. I'm shocked you would say something like that, knowing full well that werewolves aren't all bad. They can't help it if they attack someone. It's not their fault." I stood up and went to walk away.

"Dom, wait," Penny grabbed my arm. "I'm sorry, I just don't think of you as a werewolf; you're different. I didn't mean to sound so...so horrible."

I sighed, "I know Pen, I know." I gave her a hug. Penny wasn't prejudice against werewolves; I should know she'd known me since my accident, she was just shocked that there was a werewolf here. To be honest, I felt the same when I found out last night.

"So," Penny sniffed. "There are 3 Animagus' running around and they're probably unregistered. I wonder who they are."

Over the next couple of weeks, I tried to find out more about the werewolf and its friends but I kept coming up empty.

As Easter got ever closer I got bombarded with letters from Dylan and Sophie asking how many friends I'll be taking to the wedding, not to mention the amount of homework the teachers were giving us.

The eight of us were sitting outside, by the lake as usual during our free period; we'd already suffered an hour of Potions and an hour of History of Magic. Saying that, I actually really enjoyed Potions; along with DADA it was my favourite class.

"So," I said, addressing my friends. "I expect you all at my house before 9 o'clock on the second Monday of the holidays."

"You're house? Before 9? Why?" James asked.

"Because, James, you are all coming to my brothers wedding of course."

"Cool and we're invited?" Sirius asked, pointing to himself, James, Remus and Peter.

"Well, you are my friends, and my friends are invited...so, yes."

"We're your friends?" Sirius asked, eyebrow raised.

"Look if you don't want to go, say so!" I said, getting annoyed.

"Oh no, we want to go. I just wanted to clarify that we're your friends."

I looked at him sceptically before nodding.

_"He's up to something, Cassie."_

Ignoring Faolan, I continued. "Right, well I'll let Dylan know how many they can expect then." I said, picking up my bag and walking off to the Owlery. "Penny, can you give me a hand?"

Penny looked confused but came anyway. Neither of us said anything until we had reached the Owlery.

"Why did you want me to come, you don't need help sending a letter?" Penny asked me as I scribbled out a quick note to my brother.

"I wanted to talk to you." I said, tying my note to Thorn's leg.

"About?"

"You and Remus." I turned my head and saw Penny's face blush. "I've been meaning to ask you for a while but I kept forgetting."

"What about me and Remus?"

"You like him." I said simply.

"Of course I like him, we're friends." She said, regaining her composure.

"No, I mean you like him." I watched Thorn fly off into the distance and turned back to face Penny properly.

"I...I...uh,"

"Ha, so it is true." I punched the air joyfully. "I knew I was right, you keep blushing when he speaks to you and you sit next to him at every chance you get."

"Okay, okay, I'll admit that I like him, but you can't tell anyone!"

"Does he feel the same?" I asked as we left the Owlery and back over to the guys.

"I don't know," she said, sounding lost in her thoughts.

After about 10 minuets the eight of us headed back the school for our next lesson. This was the one time that I wasn't in the same class as them.

Leaving my friends on the 3rd floor, I was headed to Divination when I heard someone call me.

"Hey, Domino! Wait up!"

I turned on the spot and was greeted by Sirius who, by the looks of it, had just run a marathon.

"I...um...wanted...to...erm...ask...if -"

"Are you alright?" I asked interrupting his panting. He leant against the wall and took a deep breath, shaking his head at my question.

"You...move...really quickly..." he huffed between breaths. "I turned...to talk to... you but...you were already...gone. I had to...run." He took a couple more deep gasps of air and closed his eyes, trying to regain his normal composure.

"For someone who plays Quidditch, you're awfully out of breath."

"I ran up four flights of stairs." He said opening his eyes.

"Four? But we're on 3rd?" I said, trying to work out his logic.

"Detour." He said simply.

"Oh. Well, I'm sorry. I didn't realise I walked so fast." I smiled.

"I wanted to catch you before class. I wanted to know if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with all of us tomorrow." Sirius said, his breathing finally back to normal.

"Oh, um, sure that'll be fine." The smile disappearing from my face; I don't know why I felt so disappointed.

"Cool. Lily's going with James, as promised, I think Peter asked Emily, Remus has finally plucked up the courage to ask Penny and I thought you could come with me."

"Oh," I said, my smile returning. "Wait, did you say Remus had finally asked Penny?" My smile turning into a grim.

"Yeah why? You didn't want to go with him, did you?" Sirius asked, looking a little depressed.

I burst out laughing at his question and he raised his eyebrows at me. "What?"

"Why would I want to go to Hogsmeade with Remus?" I watched as the penny finally dropped for Sirius.

"Penny likes Remus!" He all but shouted.

"Finally, caught on have you?"

"You know what this means?" He asked mischievously.

"That we need to stage an intervention and push them closer?"

"My thoughts exactly!" He grinned, "Now, off to Divination!"

Sirius linked his arm through mine and pulled me through the corridors towards class, whispering plans about Remus and Penny.

"But you don't have Divination!" I said, looking confused.

"No, I don't, but I could do with a change of scenery," Sirius shrugged, still content on going to Divination with me.

Sirius and I had discussed many ways of getting Penny and Remus closer during Divination, but most of them were just silly. Professor Trelawney never noticed she had an extra student, which made everyone in the room chuckle. Sirius even asked her loads of questions and she still didn't notice that he shouldn't have been there; to be fair, she probably did notice but the fact that he was taking an interest - albeit jokingly - meant that she didn't care.

Trelawney got us to sit in pairs and gave us all a crystal ball; we'd done this before but I suppose as OWLs were getting closer, she wanted to recap the previous years. Sirius grabbed the crystal ball and stared at it intently.

"I see...smoke and not much else."

"You've got the focus, apparently." I laughed.

"Hmm, well then, if I focus I see...dark."

"How can you see 'dark'? You're clearly doing it wrong."

"No, I see dark. I can also see you, there's a lot of dark around you -"

Before he continued Professor Trelawney came over. "Step aside Mr Black," she gasped. "He is right my dear, there is dark around you. I see pain and suffering. You are in grave danger!"

A lot of the students scoffed; Trelawney was known for always predicting death, so this wasn't anything special. I wasn't bothered by her 'prediction'.

"There are two of you. You share the same body, but your minds are separate. She is the one who is surrounded in darkness, but it is you that takes the pain she creates."

I looked at her, my eyes wide; that had caught my attention.

_"Don't listen to her, Cassie. I'll never hurt you."_

"I know that, Faolan." I whispered.

"How was Divination?" James asked Sirius, laughing.

"Intriguing," Sirius replied, "Trelawney predicted her usual, didn't she Dom?"

"Huh, what?" I shook my head and glanced up at Sirius. You know, I had never noticed how amazing his eyes were; so captivating. I tore myself away from my thoughts and looked around the room; the Great Hall. I was so dazed from what Trelawney had said, I hadn't noticed the entire walk from Divination to the Great Hall.

"You alright?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine."

"So, what did Trelawney say?" Lily asked.

"A load of gumph about darkness and sorrow," Sirius replied, taking a bite of the apple he had just picked up.

I gave Penny a quick 'I need to speak to you later' glance, hoping that she would understand my non-verbal message. She must have understood because she gave me a small nod.

"So," said Penny, changing the subject. "what time are we all meeting tomorrow for Hogsmeade?"


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

I woke the next morning to the sounds of Penny reeking havoc to the dorm. I opened my eyes and saw her running around the room, flapping about how she didn't know what to wear.

"You might want to think about your hair first." I muttered, closing my eyes. "You know, work your way down."

Penny's hair was sticking up at odd angles; it looked like a birds nest. The words hedge and backwards sprang to mind. I started drifting off when something large collided with my head.

"Don't even go there, Domino! Don't you even dare!" Penny growled at me. "I am well aware of what my hair looks like but nothing I do seems to work. Now get out of that bed and help or so help me God, I will -"

"Okay, okay!" I cried, jumping out of bed so quickly my head started spinning. Pen never threatened unless she was really stressed, so I wasn't going to push her buttons right now. it wasn't until I started rummaging through Penny's stuff when I noticed that Lily and Emily were acting stressed as well.

"Am I the only one who isn't stressed today? What is so important?"

_"Hogsmeade."_ Faolan said softly.

"Hogsmeade? Shit."

After an hour of running around after three stressed and incredibly bitchy girls, they were finally ready. I, on the other hand, was still in my pyjamas. I threw on the nearest outfit I could lay my hands on and raced down the stairs, tripping over a group of third years and nearly losing my balance.

_"Be careful, Cassie!"_

"I am being careful!" I hissed.

_"Well obviously not. You nearly fell down the stairs!"_

"Oh, hush your gums, Faolan. I'm in a hurry and I'm going to be late!" I was running at full pelt through the corridors, getting strange looks for everyone which I assumed was because I was talking to myself. I skidded to a halt inches from the guys and panted my apologies.

"We thought you'd forgotten." Remus said.

"No, but I had to run around after three very stressed, very hormonal women."

Sirius chuckled, "Well, that explains your dress code then."

I looked down at what I was wearing and could have died of embarrassment; my t-shirt was on backwards, my jacket was inside out and my shoes were odd. Bugger.

No wonder everyone was looking at me. I gave a flick of my wand, changing one of my shoes from green check to red and correcting my clothing. "There, much better."

We left Hogwarts and made our way down to Hogsmeade; it was a lovely day, despite the coldness in the wind. The walk down the Hogsmeade was fairly quiet, everyone seemed anxious about the day ahead of us.

"So," James said, breaking the silence as we neared the little village. "Where do you want to go first? Honeydukes? Zonko's?"

My stomach decided at that point to grumble loudly and everyone looked at me. "How about The Three Broomsticks, I'm starving."

They all laughed and Penny said, "Why not. Dom can stuff her face and we can warm up with a Butterbeer before having a wonder round."

"Oi, it's your fault I'm hungry. I missed breakfast because of you three!" I said pointing my finger at Penny, Lily and Emily.

"Perhaps, but you're still going to stuff your face." Penny giggled as I glared at her. I threw my arm out to hit hers but she jumped out of the way at the last minute, running off into the distance. "Too slow, Dom! You've been eating too much, it's slowing you down!"

"We'll see about that!" I yelled, taking off after her.

Sirius' POV

"Are they always like this?" Moony asked the girls.

"Yes," Lily and Emily said together.

James and I laughed watching Domino chasing Penny, while Remus just shook his head in amusement. The six of us left the girls to it and headed over to The Three Broomsticks, as we reached the door there was a loud shout from behind us.

"KAMIKAZE!"

"ARGH!"

Turning around, I saw Penny leap into the air and dog-pile Domino. "Get off me, you fat lump!"

"Hey, I'm not fat!" Penny said, pouting her lip.

"Oh, just bloody GET OFF ME!"

I chuckled and shouted over to them, "We're going to get a drink, we'll save you a seat for when you've finished!"

"Ooh, I'm on my way!" Penny said, standing up.

Domino reached out and grabbed Penny's legs, forcing her to fall flat on her face.

"Haha! Score one for me!" Dom shouted as she dashed past us and into the pub.

I couldn't help but smile when I saw Dom sat at a table in the corner, already working her way through a plate of scrambled eggs. She's cute.

Domino's POV

"What?" I asked Sirius, who was staring at me.

"Um, nothing." He said, taking the seat next to me.

"He was marvelling at how fast you managed to get food. You haven't been in here long, where did you get that from?" Remus asked, taking the seat opposite me with Penny in tow.

"She stole it from the old guy over there on her way in." Madam Rosemerta was standing behind Penny, a small note pad in her hands. "What can I get you?"

"He's asleep! He isn't going to miss it!" I said through a mouthful of food when my friends looked at me in shock and disbelief. "I'm hungry!"

"We'll have 8 Butterbeers and two plates of scrambled eggs; one for the monster over there," Lily said, pointing at me, "and one for the gentleman whose food she stole, please."

"Sure thing." Madam Rosemerta said, pocketing the note pad.

"Thank you."

We were sat in The Three Broomsticks for a couple of hours, talking and laughing over our drinks. The time went by pretty quickly and by the time we got up to leave, we had consumed 4 Butterbeers each and I had scoffed down 2 plates of scrambled eggs, 1 bacon sandwich and a full English; gorgeous.

We went into Zonko's Joke Shop next where Sirius and James disappeared into the shelves, gleefully discussing their next prank.

"We could..."

"How about..."

"Yeah and then we could..."

"That's brilliant..."

Before they could completely empty their pockets of money, we managed to drag them out of Zonko's and into Honeydukes. It never fails to amaze me when I go in Honeydukes; the smells that greet you before you even get to the door are incredible, and with my sensitive wolf nose I could pick up every single individual smell that drifted by. The shelves were stacked high with brightly coloured sweets and I lost myself in the awesomeness of it all.

"Dom?"

"Hmm?" I said turning to Sirius.

"You're drooling and it's really not attractive."

Sirius' words didn't really register in my brain and I turned back to the smells and colours that awaited me.

"It's no good, Sirius, we've lost her." I heard Lily say as I took off towards the chocolate aisle.

I'm not sure how long I was in Honeydukes, but when I emerged with my arms full of chocolates, sugar quills and boxes of Bertie Botts, it had gone dark and I was alone. I stood in the doorway of Honeydukes, glancing around for any sign of my friends. My stomach churned and this time it wasn't in hunger.

_"They haven't abandoned you, Cassie."_

"Then where are they?" I said, as I sat down on the bench to my right.

_"They're...um..."_

"Exactly," I whispered trying to stop myself from crying.

I was sat on the bench for about 10 minutes, when I heard the door of Honeydukes open.

"Domino! There you are! I though I'd lost you."

Looking up, I saw Sirius standing in the doorway, smiling.

"Are you okay, Dom?" He said, his smile vanishing.

"I thought you'd all left me here." I sniffed.

"Oh, Dom," he said, sitting down next to me and bringing me into a hug. "We didn't leave you. The others wanted to have a walk round, so I said I'd stay here with you and we'd meet them in the Great Hall for dinner. Then when I went to find you, you'd gone."

_"See, I told you they hadn't abandoned you."_

"Oh," I said, feeling a little foolish for my over-reaction. I took in a deep breath, Sirius' scent invading my nostrils and pulled back. "Sorry."

"You've nothing to be sorry for, Dom."

Something shifted in me when I looked at him; his black hair hung gently at his shoulders, framing his face which drew your gaze up to his grey eyes that held so much emotion.

"I got your shirt wet."

He looked down at his shirt, saw the small wet patch on his chest where I had been crying and let out a bark like laugh. "It'll dry."

Sirius looked back at me and tenderly tucked my hair behind my ear; his soft touch caressed my skin. Nerves jumped in my stomach as he lent towards me, placing a tender kiss upon my lips. When he pulled away, I let out a small sigh.

"Come on; let's go get something to eat." Sirius said, picking up my bags and lacing his hand through mine.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

In the days following Hogsmeade I was getting a lot of glares from the girls, not only the ones in Gryffindor but _everyone_! It was a little off-putting; I wasn't used to the attention.

When Sirius and I came back from Hogsmeade, we both got a lot of stares from the students. Everything was fairly quiet until James announced, "Finally!" everyone started muttering and I went red. When I looked at Sirius he was red too.

"When did this happen?" Lily had asked.

I had tried to tell her but with all the glares and the now deathly silence in the Great Hall, I froze. I couldn't say anything, not with everyone listening. My friends seemed to pick up on that and, thankfully changed the subject.

Things had settled since then. People were still talking about us; they would be for a while at least.

I was currently sitting in the common room with my friends; Lily was in conversation with Emily whilst Peter was staring longingly at her, I was leaning into Sirius who had his arm around me and was discussing Quidditch with James and Penny and Remus were awkwardly trying not to look at each other. Things were peace full.

"We should get going, Pads." James said.

"Yeah we should." He said, glancing over to Remus and Peter, who both nodded.

"Where are you going?" I asked, as they all stood up.

"We've...err...got to do some, you know, Marauder stuff." Sirius said, looking at the others for help.

"Yeah, Marauder stuff. Top Secret." James added.

Lily looked peeved and stood up so that she was eye level with James. "You best not be going and getting into trouble! It's past curfew?"

"Relax, Lily darling. We aren't doing anything wrong, and we won't get caught." James said coolly.

Lily huffed but didn't stop the guys when they left. "Boys!" She picked up her things and announced that she was going to bed. Emily gave a small nod and followed her.

"Shouldn't you be going for a run?" Penny whispered to me.

"Yes," I sighed.

"Well, be careful. Don't forget that there's a werewolf out there." Penny said as she made her way up the stairs to the dorms.

I let out a gasp at Penny's comment; I had completely forgotten about my encounter last full moon. I stood up and made my way through the portrait hole and down the corridors into the grounds. I wonder if I'll see the werewolf and its friends tonight.

"_Don't go looking for them, Cassie._"

"Why?" I whispered as I sat down in the large grass, hidden from view. "Anyways, it's not like I have a say in anything. If you want to do something, you'll do it. i can't control you properly when it's a full moon."

"_I just want to run tonight, Cassie. We didn't get to run properly last month because we ran into them._"

I sighed, "I understand, Faolan but I can't promise that we won't bump into them accidentally."

"_I know._"

As the silvery moon came out from behind the clouds and cast her rays upon the ground, I bathed in her glory before leaping forward and allowing my body to shift into my wolf form. It was then, in that in-between state, that it hit me: Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. Faolan must have been listening to my thoughts too closely, because neither of us was paying attention and as my front paws made contact with the ground, I tumbled forward causing me to twist uncomfortably and end up on my back.

"Looks like we'll be looking for them tonight, after all." I said to Faolan through our mental link.

"_Yes, I suppose it does_."

Sirius' POV

Things were going better this time. Moony was able to get some Wolfsbane and the four of us were having a run around the grounds; away from the castle of course.

My mind kept drifting to Dom; I felt awful that I had to lie to her. Me and the guys had discussed telling the girls about us; the animagus side at least, Moony didn't want to tell them about his 'furry little problem'. I could see why, but I don't think the girls will care.

I looked over at the lake, saw Prongs standing in the shallows of the water and seized the opportunity. Concealing myself within the grass, I crept quietly towards the stag ahead of me. I noticed Moony's ears prick up as he noticed what I was doing and gave a small huff-like cough, but he kept quiet. I was practically touching Prongs when I pounced, pushing the stag with my front paws and sending it crashing into the icy water. I couldn't contain myself when Prongs came out of the water, reeds hanging off his antlers. He stamped his hoofs on the ground and shook water over me before trying to chase me around the tree that Moony was sat under.

We didn't notice that we had an audience.

Peter was the one that noticed first and let out a small squeak. I stopped in my tracks, causing Prongs to skid into the back of me. Moony stood up and gave a small warning howl, but the wolf just sat there, watching. The same wolf from last month. The animagus.

After what felt like an age, the white wolf stood up and casually made its way down to us. Moony gave a growl this time and the wolf stopped, looked Moony directly in the eyes and snorted before walking over to me.

All of us were stiff; tense at the presence of this wolf, this animagus. None of us knew who it was and that put us on edge.

The wolf was bigger than me but that didn't stop me from snarling; what shocked me though was that the wolf laughed. Laughed. At me. it then decided to lick me across the muzzle. It startled me and I shot backwards, tripped over Peter and ended up in a tangled mess of limbs and grass.

James let out a cough-like bleat, Remus gave a wheezing laugh and the wolf was on its back rolling around in a fit of silent laughter. It clearly knew what and _who_ we are. I didn't like it.

It stayed with us for the rest of the night; much to our annoyance, but no matter what we did it wouldn't leave. When dawn came and Remus began his change back, I noticed the look of sadness on the wolf's face and wondered again as to who it could be. James, Peter and me shifted back to human and waited for the wolf to shift as well; to say we were shocked when we found out who it was would be an understatement.

**A/N: What do you all think? Would love some feedback, so please review. Finally got my welcome email for Pottermore! It's fantastic! If you've got an account be sure to add me: WolfsbaneWalnut88**


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

I could tell the guys weren't happy with me following them, but I wasn't going to leave. When dawn came, the werewolf began its change and I couldn't help but be sad. I knew of the thoughts going through his mind and could feel the pain as if it was my own; I was the lucky one though. I didn't have to go through that.

The stag, dog and rat shifted into human form after Remus had completed his transformation and they looked at me with anticipation. I felt the wolf form melt away and looked up into the shocked faces of the Marauders.

"Dom?" Sirius asked.

"Who else, Sirius?" I replied.

I looked over at Remus who had turned his head away from me. "I don't care, Remus." His head shot round at my comment. "It doesn't bother me, so don't you dare think otherwise. Okay?" Remus gave a small nod before I threw my arms around him in a hug.

"You never said you were an animagus," James asked after I had let go of Remus.

"Neither did you."

"….touché."

"We haven't seen you around before." Sirius asked me, as we walked back up to the castle.

"Well, the grounds are pretty large and I haven't seen you before either." I noticed how things were a little awkward around Sirius; maybe showing myself wasn't a good idea.

"_They needed to know._" Faolan said, "_Especially Sirius._"

I didn't reply, but I knew she was right. Sirius deserved to know. Perhaps I'll talk to him later when he's alone. The five of us walked in silence up to the hospital wing, where Madam Pomfrey fussed over Remus.

"Sirius? Can I have a word?" I asked.

"Sure."

I lead Sirius out of the hospital wing and over to a small alcove in the corridor.

"I'm sorry; I didn't mean to spring this on you." I said, keeping my head down.

"It was definitely a shock to see you, Dom, but you don't need to be sorry."

"I know, but things have been a little awkward this morning and I just feel that perhaps I should have done it differently." I said, leaning against the wall.

Sirius grabbed my hand and I looked up at his face. "I was shocked, Domino, not angry. Don't look so upset." I gave him a small smile. "I'm happy you accepted Remus so quickly."

"I know what it's like to be different."

Before Sirius could question me on my comment, James, Remus and Peter came out of the hospital wing and the five of us headed to the common room.

* * *

><p>"So, they were perfectly fine with it?" Penny asked me later that day.<p>

"Hmm? Oh, yeah. They were quite happy."

"You know maybe you should go lie down for a bit; I'll take notes for you." Penny asked with concern.

I laid my head back down on the desk and muttered, "No, no, I'm fine. Honestly." I didn't have to look at Penny to know she was giving me a look of scepticism and truth be told I was shattered after staying up all night. I was determined, however, to stay awake.

Penny guided my out of History of Magic and, from what I could remember of my timetable, towards Potions; but don't quote me on that.

When lunch rolled by, Penny sat me down at the Gryffindor table and placed a plate of food in front of me.

"How are you this fine day, Dom?" A far too cheery voice sung from beside me. I was too far gone to recognise the voice and it wasn't until an arm snaked its way around my waist, that I realised it had to have been Sirius. "Dom?"

"Urgh! How do you do it?" I muttered quietly, my face now planted on the table, dangerously close to my plate.

"Do what?" he asked.

"Stay awake."

"You get used to it after a while."

"Thanks, that's really helpful."

"Well, there's no need for the sarcasm!" He said, taking his arm from around my waist.

I suddenly felt very uncomfortable and grabbed his arm to put it back around me. It was weird; I had feelings for Sirius and he clearly had them for me and ever since that kiss we've become closer. More couple-like and it hadn't gone un-noticed.

"Oh, get a room!"

I turned towards the voice and saw Emily stood with her hands on her hips. Emily was generally pretty quiet; always caught up in her dreams. Since the Hogsmeade trip and becoming and item with Peter, she has definitely come out of her shell more; I liked it, it suited her.

There had been a number of changes to the dynamic of our group, since the trip to Hogsmeade, not just Emily. Much to the surprise to everyone Lily had finally agreed to go out with James; when she said 'yes', James fainted and had to be carted off to the hospital wing for risk of concussion.

Sirius' ego had gotten bigger; if that was at all possible and the two of us were very close.

Penny and Remus were constantly on edge around each other, even though they both clearly had feelings for the other. I'd told Penny about the Marauders; I didn't like telling her about Remus, it wasn't my secret to tell but since I'd told her about my first encounter with them, if I had only told her about James, Sirius and Peter she'd have worked out that Remus was the werewolf. She has happy enough, telling me what I'd told Remus; that she didn't care, that she would stand by him through it all. Penny was waiting for him to tell her himself, when he was ready.

I knew Remus was battling with himself. He clearly cared for Penny but he didn't want to hurt her; he didn't want to hurt anyone. I knew how he must have been feeling; even telling someone that you're a werewolf is a dangerous thing, especially if they don't accept it. I'd lost a friend because of the wolf and it's something I don't ever want to go through again.

I managed to swallow down some toast before lunch was over and everyone headed off towards lessons. When I stood up to leave, I could have sworn I had felt someone watching me but looking round the Great Hall, I could see anyone looking at me. I shook it off as my lack of sleep and followed my friends to Transfiguration.

* * *

><p>"Am I boring you, Miss O'Connor?"<p>

"Huh?"

"Am I boring you?"

I blinked a few times, trying to take in the blurry figure in front of me. Sirius elbowed me in the ribs, causing me to sit up straight and that's when I saw who had spoken. McGonagall, shit.

"Well?"

"Sorry Professor, I didn't sleep well last night."

"Hmm. Please pay attention, Miss O'Connor. Your OWLs are just around the corner and I will not have a student fail. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes Professor. Sorry."

Penny chuckled as McGonagall walked away.

"Hush your gums!" I hissed, which just made her chuckle more. McGonagall continued with the lesson and I tried to concentrate but my focus kept slipping and I'd stare off into space before coming back round and wondering why she'd skipped half the lesson. She hadn't…I had.

A small piece of paper was shoved under my nose and my first thought was to glance at Sirius, but he was busy whispering with James. When I looked down at the paper, I recognised the curly writing as Penny's.

_You still haven't told me about what happened in Divination the other day. Don't tell me you forgot! You looked so _shocked_, I didn't want to say anything but well, I need to know what happened! X_

I _had_ forgotten and now that she'd mentioned it, the horrible feeling that I'd felt in Divination had come back. I felt sick at the memory and did my best to scribble a quick reply.

_Sorry Pen, I honestly forgot. I can't really tell you about it now but I will. Easter is probably the best time, at the wedding. I don't know what to make of it Pen, it really shook me up. X_

I passed the note over to Penny and watched her face contort into a frown.

_What was it that shook you, Dom? Was Sirius really that bad at Divination? X_

I smiled at her attempt at making me feel better and wrote down a short reply.

_Trelawney made a prediction. X_

? POV

She'd been out last night, I could tell. She'd been asleep in most of her lessons. Normally she doesn't stay out all night; I wonder what made her stay out?

I chuckled when her head hit the table beside her plate, which got me a few odd looks from my table.

The small smile on my face quickly vanished when Black sat down next to her. I saw him put his around her slender waist and it made my blood boil. I'd heard she was going out with Black; who hadn't, but I hadn't believed it. I guess it's true.

I felt my grip tightening on my hold of the edge of the table and only released my hands when I felt a warm liquid drip down my fingers. Looking down, I saw I had splintered the table slightly and a few slivers of wood had pierced the skin on my fingers.

I got up without any notice from my house mates and decided to take a walk to the hospital wing.

I will get her back. One way or the other.

**AN: Who was watching her? They clearly know what she is, but how? Let me know what you think. More about Domino's past will be revealed soon! **

**Okay, so in a moment of utter stupidity I have entered NaNoWriMo! This will be the first time I have done it, so, come November 1st I will be writing like a mad-woman trying to get my 50K words out. Perhaps I should have waited until next year? Wish me luck! **


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

The holidays came by pretty quickly and you could feel the anticipation of Easter leave in the air.

"So, yours next Monday?" Sirius asked, sitting on top of my trunk.

"Yes," I said sitting down next to him.

"Do I get to see your bedroom?" He said, wiggling his eyebrows.

I laughed and shoved him off my trunk. "With my family you'll be lucky to even sit next to me, let alone see my room."

"Damn."

"Come on you two, we'll miss the train otherwise." Lily said as she came down the stairs into the common room.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

"The guys have already left, said they'd meet us on the train." Sirius said, getting up off the floor.

"And Pen and Emily?" I asked, turning to Lily.

"Still packing." Lily said rolling her eyes. "I'm surprised those two ever get on the train on time."

"Oi! Less of that Evans!" Penny said coming down the stairs with Emily, both followed by their trunks.

"Glad you could join us. Now, let's go!"

I rolled my eyes at Lily's back but picked up my things and left the common room with Sirius, Penny and Emily in tow.

Once on the train we met up with James, Remus and Peter and found that James and Remus had expanded one of the compartments so that it would cater for the eight of us. It was clever magic, and not something we had covered in class.

* * *

><p>I had my forehead pressed against the cool glass of the window, watching the landscape flash by. Sirius was sat next to me, deep in conversation with the others; Emily was the only other one who wasn't paying attention, having placed herself on the floor with her back against Peter's legs and was dreamily humming in time with the train.<p>

Keeping my head against the window, I turned my focus to my friends.

"My parents want to go to Milan for Easter," I heard Penny say. "They know I'm going to Dom's for the wedding, so they insist that I go with them for the first week otherwise I'd love to come."

"Yeah, I'd love to come James but I've already planned to go out with my parents. We're going to Ireland." Lily said.

"So, it looks like it's just the four of us, then." James said a little half-heartedly. "Unless Dom and Emily can make it."

I felt I should be replying at this point but I was waiting for Emily to speak first. I didn't even know what we were talking about; james had obviously suggested something but what that something was, was a mystery to me.

"Dom? What about you? Can you make it?" Sirius asked, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me away from the window.

I turned to face him and he kissed the top of my head. "What was the question?" I asked.

"Can you make it?"

"No, before that. The original question, I wasn't listening."

Sirius rolled his eyes at me, as James clarified everything for me. "I asked if you wanted to come round mine for the first week; my parents are having a small get together and I wanted to invite you all."

"Oh. I'd love to," I watched both James and Sirius beam in happiness and was a little upset that I would have to now crush them. "but I'd have to ask Sophie. I'm meant to be helping with the wedding arrangements." The joy on thier faces vanished and James let out a sigh.

"I didn't say I couldn't make it. I said I'd have to ask."

"Well don't just sit there like nothing's happening, get writing and ask them!" Sirrius called, suddenly standing up causing me to tumble backwards onto the floor.

The rest of the train journey was pretty much the same; I wrote a small note to Sophie asking for permission to go to James', Sirius almost wrote it himself and Emily finally came back to the land of the living and announced that she couldn't make it, though none of us found out why.

When the train pulled into Platform 9 and 3/4, we all gathered our things and made our way off the train. I gave Lily, Penny and Emily a hug as we said our goodbyes.

"We'll see you next week, Dom!" Penny called to me as she left with her parents.

I saw Sophie waiting for me over by the barrier and I made my way over, the Marauders trailing behind me.

"I got your owl." She said simply.

"Can I go then?" I asked. Sophie didn't say anything' she just raised her eyebrows at me. "Please? It's not like you need me there; you've had everything planned for the past year! Come on, sis, please?"

"Sure, go on then." Sophie sighed, smiling. "Don't ask for my permission for anything else though; you're my sister-in-law, not my daughter."

"Thank you, Sophie." I laughed, "Sure, when you put it like that, it is a little weird. I'll see you next week Sophie."

I waved goodbye to Sophie as I headed over to James' paretns with the guys, where James introduced me.

"Mum. Dad. This is Domino."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Domino." Mrs Potter said kindly.

"Thank you for letting me come round, Mrs Potter."

"You're very welcome, hunny. Please, call me Jenny."

We left Kings Cross and made our way over to Mr and Mrs Potter's car, which was parked around the corner.

"Domino is an interesting name." Mr Potter said to me.

"Oh, it's just a nickname."

From the corner of my eye I saw the guys look at each other at my comment, but I thought nothing of it.

The car journey to James' consisted of James and Sirius talking about Quidditch tactics with Mr Potter, while Remus quietly read his book. Both Peter and I were staring out of the windows, watching the countryside flash by.

After arriving at james', the guys took me up to the room I would be staying in, before we went outside for a quick game of Quidditch.

"So," Sirius huffed as we all collapsed into a pile of limbs and broomsticks. "Domino is just a nickname is it?"

"...You didn't actually think that was my name, did you?" I asked, laying back on the grass.

"Well, we never actually thought about it. It never crossed our minds."

"And then when you told Mr Potter that it was a nickname, we realised that we didn't know your real name." Remus said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

"Oh. Well, it's Cassie, or Cassandra if you're my father and I'm in trouble."

"Cassie." Sirius said quietly.

"Yes?"

"I like it."

"Well I'm glad it passes your standards!" I laughed.

"Kids? Dinner!" Mrs Potter called from the backdoor.

* * *

><p>The next few days consisted of the same; a few games of Quidditch, some exploding snap and a trip to the local village. The village was lovely and was the perfect exuse for me to buy something for the party Mr and Mrs Potter were having tomorrow evening.<p>

"I need to get something for tomorrow night and I'm sure you don't want to have to come with me, so I'll meet you at the little café we passed earlier for lunch." I said to the guys, once we'd reached the village centre.

"Sounds like a plan. See you later, Dom." Sirius said, walking off with the guys.

I gave a small sigh and turned into the nearest clothing shop. I hated shopping for clothes; there are always too many people around, they get in your way and slow you down, then there are the small children that see fit to get under your feet or scream so loudly that your ears bleed. No, I don't like shopping; it's not good for my blood pressure. Thankfully the shop I had walked into was fairly empty, with only a couple of women browsing the racks. I wasn't sure what I wanted; I knew the party was going to be formal, but I didn't want to over do it. A ball gown was out of the question then.

After half an hour I had a collection of about 8 dresses and made my way over to the changing rooms.

The changing rooms were cramped and only had a small mirror in each cubical, so I was forced to leave the comfort of my privacy and use the full length mirror in the main shop. The lady who worked there complimented me on each outfit; which annoyed me, especially when I tried on a bright yellow dress that clashed horribly with everything in the room - including me. However, there was a nice elderly lady trying on shoes who told me, honestly, what she thought. It was refreshing that someone was being truthful and it helped me in my decisions.

The final dress I tried on was a halter neck cocktail dress, royal blue in colour; it was a simple design that hung beautifully on me.

"Oh! Now that, that is gorgeous!" The elderly lady exclaimed. "If you don't buy it, I'll buy it for you!"

It was all I needed to hear and I dashed into the cubical, changed and was purchasing the dress before anyone could've blinked. I got a pair of strappy silver shoes to go with it and left the store; thanking the elderly lady on my way out.

"You're very welcome, dearie. That bint of a woman was as useless as a big bag of useless things; she was more interested in taking your money, she couldn't have cared if you'd walked out in a plastic bag. Well, not me! No sir!"

I laughed. "Thank you again, though. I think I'd have walked out after the second dress if you hadn't been there."

"Don't mention it." She said, wrapping her shall tighter around her shoulders. "Have a lovely time, won't you?"

"Of course."

We went our seperate ways and I headed over to the café to meet the guys. When I got there, they were already sat outside with menus in hand.

"Well, you took your time." Sirius said, lounging back in his chair.

"I'm not even late!" I said, sitting down. "It's not my fault that you were early."

Sirius stuck out his tongue as the waitress came over to take our orders.

"What did you get then?" Remus asked.

"A dress. But you'll have to wait until the party to see it."

"Spoil sport." Sirius said, taking a sip of his drink.

After lunch the five of us headed back to James', where we relaxed in the study. We were laughing at James and Sirius, who were wrestling on the floor, when Mrs Potter stuck her head around the door. "You've got a visitor." She moved away and opened the door.

"PENNY!" I yelled, running over to the door and throwing my arms around Penny's neck.

They guys gave a succession of 'hello's' while Penny tapped me on the arms and wheezed, "Air,"

"Sorry Pen." I said, letting go. "What are you doing here? I thought you had to go to Milan?"

"Hey guys. Yeah, I went to Milan but they surprised me by saying I could come for James' party tomorrow and then go straight to yours for the wedding."

Penny threw her stuff into the room next to mine and we enjoyed the rest of the day inthe garden.

* * *

><p>I heaved a sigh and sat on my bed, carefully brushing my wet hair. it had been a busy day and spending that afternoon in the garden had resulted in a game of Quidditch, a swim in the river that backed James' house and a game of hide and seek that ended up with everyone covered in mud.<p>

I'd relaxed by having a warm shower, washing away all the grime of the day. As I sat down on the bed however, my thoughts drifted to Penny; I had to tell her about Divination. I didn't want to remember Trelawney's prediction, it made me feel uneasy.

"_I'm __not __going __to __hurt __you, __Cassie._" Faolan said gently, startling me.

"I know you wouldn't intentionally hurt me, Faolan but you can't know for certain that you won't."

"_Cassie, __we __are __a __part __of __each __other._"

"You keep saying that, Faolan but sometimes..."

"_Sometimes __what?_"

"Sometimes...oh, it's stupid. It doesn't matter."

"_Cassie? __Tell __me. __What's __wrong?_"

"It's just...sometimes I feel like you're hiding something from me. It's like you've blocked me and I feel empty." I said, emotions bubbling in my stomach.

"_Oh, __Cassie._" Faolan sighed. "_I'm __not __hiding __anything. __I __promise._"

Before I could say anything more, there was a gentle knock at my door.

"Can I come in?" Penny whispered as she opened the door.

"Sure."

Penny came in and closed the door quietly behind her. She gave me a smile before sitting down on my bed. "So, you going to tell me what happened in Divination?"

The feeling of panic that had gripped me in Divination was back and I felt sick. I felt my eyes quiver and knew that they would now be yellow; Faolan was trying to protect me, she was trying to curb my emotions. Penny obviously saw my eyes change and threw her arms around me.

"Oh, Domino! It can't be that bad, can it?"

She let go and looked at me, searching for an answer of some kind.

"Trelawney always predicts death and 'gave danger', but this was different." I said quietly. Penny didn't say anything, she was waiting for me to continue. "We were using crystal balls. Sirius went first, trying to see something," I smiled at the memory and laughed. "He was rubbish!"

Penny laughed, "Well that explains why he isn't doing Divination!"

"I told him to try again and he said 'I see Dark', he then said that there's a lot of dark around me. I didn't think anythingof it, I thought Sirius was just messing around but then Trelwaney came over and said that she sees pain and suffering, and that I am in grave danger. Everyone laughed, even me but she continued sauing, 'There are two of you. You share the same body, but your minds are seperate. She is the one who is surrounded in darkness, but it is you that takes the pain she creates.' I don't know what to do, Penny. I don't know what to think!"

"Domino, you know as well as I do, that Faolan won't hurt you."

"But what about Trelwaney's prediction?"

"What about it? You said yourself that she always does things like that, what makes this any different?"

"She's never been so accurate before!" I said as tears began to spill down my face.

"Just forget about it, Dom. Faolan wouldn't hurt you, okay?" Penny said, hugging me again. I gave a small nod and let Penny leave before wrapping myself up in the duvet, letting myself drift off into a somewhat peaceful sleep.

FaolanPOV

I felt Cassie's emotions as though they were my own. I didn't like to see her hurt, even if she was the one creating the pain, so I shielded her from it; letting myself take over slightly. The only noticeable reaction to my taking control are Cassie's eyes; they give me away.

Cassie calmed considerably after I had blocked her emotions and she thanked me mentally. I could see why she was upset but I would _never _hurt her, not intentionally anyway.

Penny left and Cassie tucked herself under the duvet. I waited until she had fallen into a deep slepp before taking full control. I blocked Cassie completely, she won't wake up while I'm in control and she won't remember anything I do during the night; she'll think she slept all night.

I pulled the duvet off and got out of the bed. Walking carefully over to Cassie's trunk, I opened it, peeled back the lining of the lid and withdrew a small piece of parchment concealed beneath. I took some of Cassie's spare parchment and a quill and wrote a reply to the letter in my hands.

_Caleb,_

_I'm __sorry, __I __really __am __but __I __refuse __to __hurt __Cassie. __She __doesn't __want __you, __just __leave __her __be._

_Faolan_

I tied the small letter to Thorn's leg, thankfully the damn owl didn't realise I was in control and I wasn't pecked to death. I watched Thron disappear into the distance before shutting the window.

It had been risky, Caleb sending that letter; I wasn't expecting it and so Cassie was in control. When I saw who it was from, I had to block Cassie's mind. I made her forget seeing the owl and the letter; it was risky and I didn't like doing it, but I'd had no other choice.

My next stop was Penny. I wondered over to the bedroom door and carefully pulled it open; glancing down the dark corridor I made sure no one was coming before stepping out of the room. Penny's room was only next door, so I didn't have to go far. I knocked gently before letting myself in: Penny was still awake and was shocked to see me standing there.

"Dom? What's wrong?"

"It's not Cassie, Penny."

"Faolan?" Penny gasped.

"It's alright, calm down. I just wanted to talk to you without Cassie knowing." Penny nodded, letting me explain. "Cassie's scared. I can see why but I would never hurt her, at least not intentionally. I just wanted you to keep an eye on her; she won't always listen to me."

"I love her, Faolan, she's my best friend. I've stood by her when no one else would; of course I'm going to keep an eye on her. I don't need you to tell me to do it."

"I know, Penny and I'm grateful for everything youv'e done, it's just -"

"It's okay, I understand."

"Caleb sent her a letter." I sighed. "It's okay! I've delt with it." I said, before Penny could react.

"Good. What did he want?" She said angrily.

"The usual. I don't think he'll bother her again but I'll deal with it if it does."

"Does she know?" Penny asked me.

"No. I blocked it from her, she doesn't need to know. It'll only hurt her if she does."

Penny nodded. "I won't say anything and I'll keep an eye on Caleb."

"Thank you."

I went back to Cassie's room and got into the bed, I put Cassie back in control and I retreated to just watching. I thought back to Caleb's letter; he's determined and that may cause problems.

**AN: ****Okay, ****so ****this ****is ****a ****very ****long ****chapter ****and ****took ****me ****forever ****to ****write, ****but ****I ****hope ****you ****like ****it.**

**Please ****let ****me ****know ****what ****you ****think ****:D**

**It's ****NaNoWriMo ****in ****2 ****days, ****so ****I ****might ****not ****get ****chapter ****9 ****up ****until ****December. ****Good ****luck ****to ****all ****those ****doing ****NaNoWriMo ****- ****I'll ****see ****you ****on ****the ****otherside ****:D ****x**


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